Gas-to-liquid technology to open new arenas in fuel usage

Pearl GTL, Shell’s gas-to-liquid (GTL) production plant recently made a significant breakthrough in GTL jet fuel. The jet fuel has now received approval providing new and varied advantages for airports and airlines. A joint project between Qatar Petroleum and Shell, Pearl GTL, located in Qatar, is the world’s largest GTL plant.
Wael Sawan, managing director and chairman of Shell Qatar stated that, “GTL jet fuel is a blend of GTL kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene. It is the first new commercial fuel available for civil aviation over the last two decades”.
Pearl GTL, based in Ras Laffan, converts natural gas into liquid petroleum products. It produces naptha and transportation fuels as its primary products and has a production capacity of 140,000 barrels of GTL products each day.
The most important advantage of GTL is that it can be used in conventional diesel engines and produces low emissions. The first commercial shipment of GTL gasoil was sold in 2011. The GTL jet fuel produced at Pearl GTL is now being used in airplanes at Doha International Airport. What now needs to be seen is how GTL will help in sustaining global fuel demands, its commercial viability and its effects on global warming.
(April 1, 2013)